Plasma processing apparatus

Abstract

A parallel resonance frequency can be adjusted in order to stably and securely block different high frequency noises flowing into a line such as a power feed line or a signal line from electric members including a high frequency electrode within a processing chamber. A filter 102(1) coaxially accommodates a coil 104(1) within a cylindrical outer conductor 110, and a ring member 122 is coaxially installed between the coil 104(1) and the outer conductor 110. The ring-shaped member 122 may be a plate body of a circular ring shape on a plane orthogonal to an axial direction of the outer conductor 110 and made of a conductor such as cupper or aluminum and electrically connected with the outer conductor 110 while electrically insulated from the coil 104(1).

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION[0001]This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2009-265881 filed on Nov. 24, 2009, and U.S. Provisional Application Ser. No. 61 / 296,285 filed on Jan. 19, 2010, the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]The present disclosure relates to a plasma processing apparatus for performing a plasma process on a processing target object by using a high frequency power, and more particularly, to a plasma processing apparatus including a filter for blocking a high frequency noise flowing into a line such as a power feed line or a signal line from an electric member such as a high frequency electrode within a processing chamber.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]In microprocessing for manufacturing a semiconductor device or a FPD (Flat Panel Display) using plasma, it is important to control a temperature and a temperature distribution of a substrate as well as a plasma density ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0035]In accordance with the plasma processing apparatus of the seventh aspect, in the filter provided on the line that connects the external circuit of the signal system or the power system with the electric member within the processing chamber that performs the plasma process therein, the distributed constant line is formed between the first conductor and the tube-shaped second conductor that accommodates or surrounds the first conductor. The distributed constant line has impedance characteristic of forming parallel resonance at regular multiple resonance frequencies. By the parallel resonance frequency controller, one of the parallel resonance frequencies is set to be equal to or approximate to a frequency of the high frequency noise to be blocked, so that the distributed constant line can provide sufficiently high impedance for the high frequency noise. Therefore, the power feed circuit may be securely protected, and reproducibility and reliability of the plasma process may be improved

[0036]In accordance with the plasma processing apparatus of the present disclosure, with the configuration and operation as described above, reliability and reproducibility of the plasma process can be improved by efficiently, stably and securely blocking a high frequency noise (especially, a plurality of high frequency noises having different frequencies) flowing into a line such as a power feed line or a signal line from electric members including a high frequency electrode within a processing chamber. Further, a high frequency blocking function can be improved by adjusting the parallel resonance frequency.

Problems solved by technology

If the temperature control of a substrate is not appropriately performed, uniformity of a reaction on a substrate surface and uniformity of process characteristics may not be secured, resulting in deterioration of a production yield of semiconductor devices or display devices.

However, in this method of using such a chiller mechanism, it has been difficult to rapidly change a temperature of the coolant.

Further, since responsiveness in temperature control is low, a temperature variation, a temperature increase or a temperature decrease may not be performed at a high speed.

Meanwhile, in case that a lower electrode high-frequency application type in which a high frequency power supply is connected to the susceptor (lower electrode) is used for a plasma control and, at the same time, the heater mechanism in which the heating member is embedded in the susceptor is used for a temperature control, a part of a high frequency power applied to the susceptor from the high frequency power supply may reach a heater power supply as a noise via the heating member and a heater power feed line, resulting in deterioration of an operation and a performance of the heater power supply.

Therefore, if a high frequency noise is introduced therein, the heater may suffer an operation failure.

However, it was found out that in case of employing a lower electrode dual frequency application type in which both a high frequency power of a relatively low frequency (typically, about 13.56 MHz or less) for ion attraction and a high frequency power of a relatively high frequency (typically, about 27 MHz or more) for plasma generation are applied to the susceptor, it is difficult to stably and securely block the high frequency noise having a relatively high frequency by using the filter having the above-described configuration.

To be specific, if the frequency of the high frequency power for plasma generation is increased (typically, if it is set to be about 60 MHz or higher) in order to obtain high density plasma under a low pressure, an impedance characteristic of the filter for such a high frequency range may become non-uniform.

The non-uniformity of the filter characteristic may have adverse effect on reliability and reproducibility of a plasma process, and, thus, a difference in process performance may be caused in a plasma processing apparatus for mass production.

With this filter configuration, however, an impedance characteristic may be changed complicatedly because of self-resonance of a coil included in each LC parallel resonance circuit or a mutual interference between the adjacent LC parallel resonance circuits.

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